Transparency, Clarity and Impact at the Core of U.S. Certifier’s Policy and Label Evolution

OAKLAND, CA (January 18, 2012) -- Fair Trade USA, the leading third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States, today unveiled a newly redesigned certification label and significant revisions to its Multiple Ingredients Product Policy. The changes will better serve the needs of farmers, businesses and consumers that look to the Fair Trade Certified label to ensure that rigorous standards, transparency and efforts to provide the greatest impact possible have been met.

OAKLAND -- After years of living in the mountains of northern Nicaragua as an agricultural aid worker trying to make life better for the country's poor farmers, Paul Rice woke up and smelled the coffee -- fair-trade coffee that is.

The concluding months of 2011 were marked by a period of great change and innovation in the Fair Trade movement: a time of unprecedented forward thinking and passionate debate about what it means to be Fair Trade Certified.

A little more than a decade ago, two Iraqi American siblings were vacationing at the Grand Canyon when they decided to create a tea company that prized art and social justice.
Today, Numi Organic Tea in Oakland is the leading brand importer of fair-trade certified teas in the United States.
For co-founder Ahmed Rahim, the desire to build a people-focused company came out of his experience as a child growing up in Cleveland, the son of Iraqi immigrants.